NDRRMC adopts resolution to recommend state of calamity in Boracay

A 300-meter span at Willy’s Rock in Boracay is the only area allowed for swimming for residents starting April 26. (Photo by Nestor P. Burgos Jr./INQUIRER VISAYAS)

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council adopted a resolution on Monday recommending to President Rodrigo Duterte the declaration of state of calamity in Boracay Island.

“The prevailing conditions in Boracay Island and the urgent need for its temporary closure as a tourist destination for purposes of rehabilitation, the National Council has agreed to recommend the declaration of a state of calamity in Boracay Island,” Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said in the meeting.

The disaster agency, headed by Lorenzana, convened on Monday to discuss the proposed declaration of state of calamity in the barangays of Balabag, Manoc-Manoc and Yapak (Boracay Island) in Malay, Aklan, the NDRRMC said in a statement.

The NDRRMC also discussed the recommendation of the temporary closure of the island for six months for “expeditious rehabilitation.”

Based on the findings of Department of Interior and Local Government and Department of Environment and Natural Resources, pollution was caused by “improper waste management and encroachment of protected areas by illegal structures have adversely affected the overall ecological balance of the island.”

The Department of Science and Technology also said that beach erosion was prevalent in the island, particularly along Western Beach, where there was as much 40 meters of erosion that has taken place from 1993 to 2003. This was said to have been caused by “storms, extraction of sand along the beach to raise properties and structures along the foreshore.”

President Duterte is expected in the coming days to declare the state of calamity and issue an executive order to shut down Boracay Island starting April 26.

Last February, the President said Boracay’s water has turned into a “cesspool.” /je